Chapter 2737

Beijia may not want to continue fighting, but the Heavenly Palace does, the Heavenly Gods do!

Thanks to Cangyan's years of effective dissemination, the Lingxu Divine Council's Plan for Divine Descent is no longer a secret; many powerful beings in the mortal realm know they are preparing for this.

He Yue naturally knows this as well.

During the descent of the Heavenly Gods, they will inevitably consume vast amounts of nightmare energy, which requires the Dragon-Punishing Pillars, and thus requires war!

Are not the fires of war everywhere and the chaos in the mortal realm precisely because of this?

This time, have the gods of Lingxu once again extended their hands, manipulating Zhao Shuo to reach all the way to Heishuicheng?

The Heavenly Gods do not care who dies—be it the soldiers and civilians of Shen State or Balin State, or even the eldest grandson of the Shen State ruler; in their eyes, they are merely nightmare energy, merely consumables, merely lives that can be arbitrarily stripped away.

He Yue stepped out of the main tent and spat a foul breath toward the sky.

"Someone, go find out Zhao Shuo's army's exact location."

This is not difficult to arrange.

When the result was presented before He Yue, he glanced at it twice, then ordered: "Prepare for battle; launch a small-scale attack on Wan City before evening."

His aide stared in surprise: "Marshal, what is this?"

"To take something, you must first pretend to give." He Yue said, "After this battle, Wan City will be quiet tonight, daring not to move. We will immediately withdraw troops to pursue Zhao Shuo."

Otherwise, with a hundred-thousand-strong army holding the battlefield, it's not as simple as just withdrawing. If Wan City pursues us, the situation will become hard to control, and it will turn into the Shen State army fleeing.

"Yes!"

￥￥￥￥￥

Subsequently, everything unfolded exactly as He Yue had predicted, progressing very smoothly.

The Shen State army attacked Wan City, the two sides fought a small engagement and withdrew troops; Wan City was busy cleaning up the aftermath and licking its wounds, and indeed had no mind to monitor or harass the enemy army.

He Yue took advantage of the night to strike camp and depart, contributing a textbook-style silent retreat.

He turned his head and rushed toward Zhao Shuo, the murderer of his son.

According to intelligence, Zhao Shuo is currently commanding troops stationed at Tangyao. He is not the main attacking general directly opposing the Shen State army; at present, he has been ordered to assist in logistics, preparing to gather several batches of grain and fodder for transport to the front lines.

In a major war, many participants are involved on both front and rear lines, and these "generals" come in all varieties. However, Tangyao is after all a transfer station on the front line, its location not far from Wan City, about thirty-five li to the northwest.

From Wan City to Tangyao, the terrain is relatively flat, with no towering mountains or steep ridges, so even leading a hundred-thousand-strong army, He Yue could cover over twenty li in a single night.

However, the overall movement of the army is indeed slow; He Yue simply dispatched three thousand five hundred cavalry, led by himself and two senior generals, to spearhead the assault on Tangyao.

He even had the leisure to divide these five thousand cavalry into three routes, personally leading two thousand five hundred men in a desperate gallop, to storm into Tangyao before dawn!

Faced with this Shen army night raid, Tangyao was caught off guard.

Who would have thought that the Shen army besieging Wan City would, in the dead of night, circle around to the north of Wan City, merely to launch a sneak attack on a small place?

This is truly not fearing an attack from front and rear.

The garrison at Tangyao numbered two thousand seven hundred; at this moment, few lights were lit in the camp tents, and when the Shen army charged in, they were overwhelmed and unable to respond.

Zhao Shuo was indeed there, but he could not quickly organize effective resistance, and upon seeing He Yue coming for him personally, he had no choice but to flee swiftly with his personal guards.

When he left the camp, he still had over fourteen hundred men, but during his northern retreat, He Yue had arranged two additional ambushes of five hundred Shen State soldiers each along the roadside, which successively rushed out to intercept.

Zhao Shuo's forces were again scattered.

By the time he escaped for the second time, only over seven hundred remained beside him.

Zhao Shuo then led these seven hundred men, continuing to retreat northwest.

However, those left with Zhao Shuo are all elite troops—strong soldiers and sturdy horses—and he has also employed various talismans and divine abilities to enhance them, enabling them to run with incredible speed. He Yue pursued relentlessly from behind, but the distance never closed.

By this point, He Yue could sometimes even see the dust kicked up by the enemy horses' tails; where could he let him escape?

One fleeing, one pursuing, unknowingly another seventy or eighty li passed.

"What lies ahead?" He Yue asked from horseback, having taken a sip of water, his speed not slowing in the least, "Send out the avian demon scouts."

If there is a city ahead, Zhao Shuo will flee there to seek refuge, and then He Yue will have no way to avenge his son's death today.

The avian demons flew out on a circuit, then returned to report:

"Ahead is a vast basin, the soil is crimson red, the basin is covered by forest; it should be the Kunlong Moat!"

"Kunlong Moat?"

"It also has an alternate name: 'Prairie of Blazing Heaven'."

He Yue had long studied the terrain of central Balin; the Kunlong Moat has a special topography, and he still retains an impression: "The Kunlong Moat itself has no city or buildings; what would he gain by entering it?"

"Perhaps he hopes to use the forest to shake us off?" the aide said, "The Kunlong Moat is a forbidden zone for humans; its water and soil are toxic to people. If our three thousand five hundred cavalry enter, supplies will be insufficient, and we cannot stay long."

Cavalry pursuit is conducted with light equipment and minimal baggage—He Yue himself has a storage space, but not every cavalryman does. They have already galloped hard all night, and both men and horses will soon need food and water replenishment; if the enemy dives into the Kunlong Moat to wage Mobile Corps Commander warfare against us, as long as they hold out for one or two days, the Shen army will only be able to abandon the Kunlong Moat.

"Continue the pursuit." He Yue's mind worked like lightning, "Around the Kunlong Moat, are there towns where we can resupply?"

The avian demon replied: "Yes, there is a small town each on the east and west sides of the basin, but the Kunlong Moat itself covers a vast area..."

"Send five hundred men to each of those two towns to gather supplies, and rush them into the Kunlong Moat as quickly as possible!"

The aide responded with a sound of assent: "Yes."

￥￥￥￥￥

Zhong Shengguang was just about to step over the threshold of the Su Min Academy when, coincidentally, five youths entered, aged roughly between nine and twelve, among whom there were also two girls.

The leader, upon seeing him, became so nervous he lost his voice: "Zhong, Zhong my lord!"

Zhong my lord had long since been elevated to king.

His companion quickly nudged him with an elbow. This youth also realized he had misspoken, his face flushed red as he was about to apologize, but Zhong Shengguang waved his hand: "No need. Where are you headed?"

"Water, rice paddies." The five said, "A new batch of water cicadas has matured; we are hurrying to collect them, to be sent tomorrow to the Great Wind Army."

Due to a major strategic adjustment, the Red General has already returned from the Mao River Plain, reassumed command of troops, to resist the invasion of the Beijia great army on the eastern part of the Panlong Wasteland.

The imperial dual stars have returned to their positions, and the pressure on the Tiger Wing General has greatly lessened; he no longer needs to single-handedly govern the entire Panlong Wasteland.

However, the war in the east is equally difficult; after the Dragon's Throat Pass was breached, the Beijia seven-hundred-thousand-strong army pressed forward with vigor, attacking the eastern part of the wasteland. Panlong had no choice but to draw over one hundred thousand troops from under the Tiger Wing General's command and assign them to the Red General's eastern front. Thus, the contradiction of Panlong's troop shortage becomes ever more prominent.

Basically, all young people inside and outside the city have gone to the battlefield; tasks such as food gathering, material transport, and pill drying—these logistical works—can only be left to the elderly, the weak, women, and children.

Zhong Shengguang hummed in assent: "Go on."

The few of them bowed and ran inside like the wind. Another gust blew past, carrying their laughing and roughhousing voices out as well.

Youth knows not the taste of sorrow.